NARA NW, an Urban Indian Organization (UIO) is submitting its three-year proposal for the Community Opioid Intervention Pilot Project grant to address the opioid crisis in the AI/AN community it servers in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. The purposed project is to provide an additional set of tools to help the Portland Urban Indian Community fight the opioid epidemic which has increased the number of victims claimed in Oregon the first quarter of 2020 by 70%. (Oregon Health Authority October 2020). Goals and objectives of the project are: to increase the quantity of quality and culturally appropriate educational materials and trainings within the Urban Indian Community; expand the access to MAT services for treatment; and to enhance the availability of support/recovery activities for opioid misuse and opioid disorder. Social determinates that contribute to the opioid crisis in the Portland metro area include unemployment, poverty, lack of education, incarceration, safe housing, lack of available medical care are all determinates directly contributing to the opioid crisis in the community. The COVID-19 has added an additional determinates directly contributing to the opioid crisis. Not only has the pandemic increased the number of families and individuals suffering from the above mentioned determinants but also through the forced isolation from our viable communities. The community and family support needed are not available. The proposed project over the next three years will increase the educational awareness of opioid prevention and treatment to providers and community, increase the availability of MAT treatment service areas for treatment focusing on Vivitrol as our primary delivery of service, and enhance a support/recovery system for families/individuals struggling with opioid misuse and abuse. The coordination of work with NARA, its partners and the community will provide needed services and information to continue this fight to s
top the spread of the opioid epidemic.
Founded in 1970 by community Tribal leaders, the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest was initially established to address the unmet needs of Urban Indians facing substance use disorders. The establishment of successful outpatient programs led to the expansion of its scope of services and in 1980 the Residential Treatment Center opened its doors. NARA’s proven success continued and in 1993 the Indian Health Clinic in the Portland metro area, started serving urban Indians and others in need. Today, NARA NW operates ten service facilities which include the Indian Health Clinic and Wellness Center, both facilities offer primary care, behavioral health service, and pharmaceutical services; Residential Treatment Center with the capacity to serve 70 adults and 12 children; Outpatient Treatment Center; Totem Lodge; Dental Clinic; Child and Family Services; Youth Residential Treatment Center; and Tate Topo Annex which offers housing services. Also, services for victims of domestic violence are offered through the Oswego Home; a center operated and managed by NARA.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data indicates that AI/AN have the second highest overdose death rates from all opioids in 2017 (15.7 death/100,000) among ethnic/racial groups in the United States. Opioids were involved in 46,802 (a rate of 14.6) overdose deaths in 2018—nearly 70% of all overdose deaths. In Oregon, drug overdose deaths involving opioids totaled 339 (a rate of 8.0) in 2018 and had remained level since 2012. The Oregon Health Authority (October 28, 2020) reported a 70% increase in drug related overdose deaths between 2019 -2020. Nearly an 8% increase in deaths during the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Opioid involved deaths accounted for almost 73% of the total overdoses in May 2020.
